This Week in Words – Sep 22

by Treehouse Editors

compiled by Rachel Bondurant

Today is the fall equinox, marking the first day of autumn. It’s also Elephant Appreciation Day, so do what you will with that.

It seems like I’m hearing about this everywhere, so I feel compelled to mention it: The Moby Dick Big Read is underway. My reluctance for audiobooks aside, I’m intrigued by this. I’ve never been particularly interested in reading Moby Dick, though I feel like I should, and this seems like a hell of a way to tackle it. As a bonus, I think most (if not all) of the narrators are British and we all know everything sounds better with a British accent.

Stephen King has announced the 2013 release of a sequel to The Shining. The Shining is one of my favorites, and I’m a big fan of Stephen King in general, so I’m actually somewhat excited about this, even if the book is called Dr. Sleep. You can watch Mr. King reading an excerpt from the book over at GalleyCat.

Harper Voyager, Harper Collins’ publisher of sci-fi and fantasy, will be accepting completed manuscripts sans agents for the first two weeks of October. GalleyCat and the Harper Voyager website have info and guidelines, but the submission portal won’t open until October 1. If only I had a finished manuscript – and wrote sci-fi.

Thank you, Missouri Review, for addressing the topic of cover letters for lit mag submissions. I’m woefully insecure about my own, and it’s nice to have a few tips to keep in mind.